quadrantONE and BAT Partner to Bring Athlete Endorsements to Premium Online Newspaper Advertising

IRVINE, Calif., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc. (BAT), the company reinventing endorsement marketing, and quadrantONE, a joint venture of four major media companies that focuses on advertisers seeking prime audiences and national reach, have partnered to bring endorsements to premium online newspaper advertising.

Backed by Tribune Company, Gannett Co. Inc., Hearst Corporation and The New York Times Company, quadrantONE offers exclusive ad inventory on 500+ premium local news and information sites across the nation's top markets. Now, quadrantONE advertisers will be able to incorporate locally relevant endorsement talent into national campaigns.

"The challenge for national brands is to achieve the benefits of local targeting, but at a scale that makes sense for their businesses," said Andy Ellenthal, CEO of quadrantONE. "Representing the best local news, sports and entertainment content that exists with scale, a partnership with BAT allows our clients to easily activate multiple endorsement deals, fueling national ad campaigns with creative that taps the passion of local audiences."

BAT's Endorsement Platform currently includes more than 3,300 superstar athletes and celebrities, covering every U.S. DMA, making it easy for advertisers of all sizes to launch cross-media campaigns featuring the most valuable endorsement talent.  BAT provides detailed analysis of talent affinity; video, still, and audio assets; and standardized negotiations, contracts, and rights so that endorsed campaigns can be up-and-running in weeks or even days.

"quandrantONE advertisers already understand the power of premium local, online content," said Ryan Steelberg, President and CEO of BAT. "Endorsements provide a meaningful connection to this local content, and to local consumers, making national campaigns highly relevant to target audiences."  

According to a new survey conducted by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America, local newspaper sites ranked first among all media sources for trustworthiness, credibility and being the most informative place to find local content -- including news, information, entertainment and sports.  Announced in Feb. 2010, the survey found that 57 percent of respondents identified local newspaper Web sites as the top online source for local information -- ahead of the totals for all other media. That percentage grows for upper income households (63 percent) and for the college educated (60 percent), making online news and information sites a prime target for national brand advertisers.

BAT and quadrantONE will kick off their relationship with a series of events in cities across the country which will bring together advertisers and star athletes. The first event will take place in Atlanta on March 18 and will feature basketball hall-of-famer Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Falcons defensive end Lawrence Sidbury, and Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague. Other spring events will take place in Dallas, Chicago and Boston.

About quadrantONE:

quadrantONE (www.quadrantone.com) is a joint venture of four major media companies that focuses on premium advertisers seeking high-quality audiences and national reach. Backed by Tribune Company, Gannett Co. Inc., Hearst Corporation and The New York Times Company, quadrantONE offers exclusive ad inventory on premium news and information sites across the nation's top local markets. For the first time, advertisers can consistently deliver their brand and message on a country-wide scale in context with local relevancy in environments they know and that consumers trust.

About Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc. (BAT)

Founded in 2007, BAT (http://brandaffinity.net) is reinventing the business of endorsement marketing by making it easy and affordable for advertisers of all sizes to launch ad campaigns featuring athletes and celebrities. Advertisers use BAT's Endorsement Platform to identify, license, and activate the most effective talent for their campaigns, based on brand and targeting considerations. Currently, BAT's Platform features more than 3,300 top athletes and celebrities in markets nationwide, and is used by leading advertisers to build brand value and boost campaign performance. BAT's celebrity roster includes Olympic athletes and marquee active and retired players in nearly every sport, including Drew Brees (NFL), Jorge Posada (MLB), Rajon Rondo (NBA), Brooks Robinson (MLB – Hall of Fame), Walt Frazier (NBA – Hall of Fame), and Lennox Lewis (Boxing). Since 1996, BAT founders Ryan and Chad Steelberg have raised over $150 million in equity financing and created over $3.0 billion in shareholder value through previous ventures including AdForce (sold to CMGi in 1999 for $500 Million) and dMarc Broadcasting (acquired by Google, Inc. in February, 2006 for up to $1.238 Billion).

SOURCE Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc.